Why Iran should not count on allies Russia and China to come to its aid

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As U.S. and Israeli strikes entered their third day, Iran’s close allies — Russia and China — have so far responded with only muted criticism, and that exposes the hard limits of its “strategic partnerships” with Moscow and Beijing.

Officials from Russia and China have condemned the U.S.-led strikes but stopped short of pledging military or civilian support to Tehran.

In a phone call with his Russian counterpart on Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said condemned the attacks, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He said it was “unacceptable for the U.S. and Israel to launch attacks against Iran ... still less to blatantly assassinate a leader of a sovereign country and instigate regime change.”

The foreign ministry of Russia, which is bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine, issued a statement saying that the “acts of aggression” violated international law and the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, and were “destabilising the situation across the entire region.”